The United States is imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil after finding a range of what it deemed unfair trade practices by the world’s 10th-biggest economy.
The tariffs, which were first proposed last month, will take effect July 22, according to senior Trump administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the action ahead of a formal notice posting Wednesday night.
The order exempts some goods that are not produced in the U.S. or that officials worry would disrupt supply chains. Exempted products include coffee, beef, oranges and orange juice, some oil and gas energy products and aerospace parts and components.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative concluded after a yearlong investigation that Brazil had a range of unfair trade practices, including lax anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs of its own, among other practices seen as unreasonable and unfair. The U.S., however, has had a goods trade surplus with Brazil for years.
After U.S. officials in early June warned that they were proposing the tariffs, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reacted with indignation. He instead pointed to political considerations, blaming his rival in the country’s October elections, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro had recently visited Washington and is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.
Senior Trump administration officials on Wednesday dismissed that politics played a role in the decision, citing the grievances as concerns the U.S. has long aired publicly in the trade relationship. The officials said that the U.S. had given Brazil’s government time to address the issues but only began having constructive meetings in the last six weeks, though they said not enough progress had been made.
The tariffs are being imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, allowing the U.S. to launch the investigation into Brazil’s trade practices.
The U.S. Supreme Court in February ruled against many of Trump’s tariffs imposed under a different law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977. The court found he overstepped his authority under that act to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners, including Brazil.
Trump had under that law imposed a 50% tariff on Brazil to protest its prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro for trying to overturn his loss in a 2022 election. But Trump’s relationship with Lula seemed to improve in May, when he visited the White House.
